Vertical ink fountain

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AN INK FILM ON A VERTICALLY POSITIONED OFF-SET INKING ROLL IN WHICH THE INK IS SUPPLIED A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL LINE OR AT SPACED POINTS TO THE SURFACE OF THE INK ROLL AND AN ADJUSTABLY POSITIONED, ROTATING DOCTOR-ROLL IS UTILIZED TO CONTROL THE THICKNESS OF THE INK FILM WHICH IS PRODUCED ON THE INKING ROLL FOR AN OFFSET PRINTING OR DECORATING PROCESS.

Nova 23, 1971 CARL ETAL 3,621,779

VERTICAL INK FOUNTAIN Filed July 2, 1969 2 She9tS-Sh8et l dram Hfiwms:

Nov. 23, 1971 CARL ETAL 3,621,779

VERTICAL INK FOUNTAIN Filed July 2, 1969 2 Sh8at3-$h0ot 2 I I l2 3% I 2 INVIiN'H m FIG. 3 DMD GGARL BY \louw R.\)0H MSQM \m H. Yfivem.

A T K EQQ United States Patent 3,621,779 VERTICAL INK FOUNTAIN David G. Carl, Sylvania, and John R. Johnson and Jack H. Myers, Toledo, Ohio, assignors to Owens-Illinois,

Inc.

Filed July 2, 1969, Ser. No. 838,477 Int. Cl. 1341f 31/12; B41l 27/10 U.S. Cl. 101-366 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for producing an ink fihn on a vartically positioned off-set inking roll in which the ink is supplied in a substantially vertical line or at spaced points to the surface of the ink roll and an adjustably positioned, rotating doctor-roll is utilized to control the thickness of the ink film which is produced on the inking roll for an offset printing or decorating process.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the use of off-set printing systems in which an inking roll is used to apply the ink to the printing roller, considerable difficulty has been experienced in controlling the thickness of the film of ink on the inking roll. This is particularly true when the inking roll and printing roll are positioned vertically; for example, in decorating bottles with the axis of the bottles vertical. Handling of containers through a decorating system has been a problem, with many of the present systems requiring positioning the bottle with its axis horizontal and then using screen printing or other types of printing techniques for printing in a horizontal mode. This requires considerable handling of the container since it is normally moved upright on its base and must be turned on its side and then carried by a set of chucks so as to be accurately positioned when the container reaches the decorating station.

The present invention is intended to be used with the off-set printing process in which the container moves into the printing or decorating station with its axis vertical and the decorating is efiected with the container still being positioned vertically. Many vertically oriented off-set printing systems require multiple inking rolls so as to assure the maintenance of the required film thickness on the roll which ultimately applies the ink to the off-set plate or drum.

In those systems where inks are applied to a vertically oriented inking roll, the inks are normally applied at the upper end of the roll in sufficient quantity to, in a sense, fiood the entire height of. the roll. This results in an excessive build-up of ink at the upper end of the roll and may result in too little ink near the lower end of the roll.

SUMMARY This invention is directed to the problem of providing a controllable ink film on an inking roller which is positioned with its axis vertical. A continuous fountain ink apparatus is provided, with the ink being supplied directly to the roll in a selected pattern extending along the length of the roll, with the ink then being spread to the desired thickness by the use of a rotating doctor-roll. The excess ink is retrieved in a sump and then may be recirculated, after filtering, through the inking apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the ink fountain of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken at line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the inking roll of. FIG. 1 looking normal to the plane of the scrapers;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ink distributing means and its support, shown separated from the overall fountain apparatus for clarity of illustration; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective View of an alternate ink distributing means or fountain.

The present invention is primarily directed to the provision of a system for applying an ink film to an inking roll in such a manner that the roll will be provided with a continuously replenished supply of ink, with the doctoring of the ink on the roll assuring that the film will be of a desired thickness. The position of the doctor-roll with respect to the ink roll surface is adjustable so that selected thicknesses of the film may be provided.

The present invention lends itself to the off-set printing system for decorating bottles or jars, it being understood that the single ink roll merely serves as the means for applying ink to a printing drum which in turn will apply a pattern of print on an article.

With particular reference to the drawings, the detailed description of the apparatus follows.

A support base 10 carries a slotted mounting block 11 within which the mountain mounting block 12 is positioned and retained by a knurled head screw 13. The mounting block 12 extends upwardly to a height substantially coextensive with the height of the fountain apparatus. The mounting block 12 is provided with two pairs of. horizontally extending guide plates 14 and 15. As can best be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, these plates 14 and 15 are held in horizontal slots formed in the side walls of the block 12 and extend outwardly beyond the front face of the block 12.

The outwardly extending portions of the guide plates 14 and 15 serve as locating members for an elongated, vertically extending fountain support member 16. The fountain support member is provided with a pair of rearwardly extending guide rods 17 which extend through openings 18 formed in the fountain mounting block 12. As can best be seen in FIG. 2, helical compression spring means 19 positioned within an enlarged recess 20 of the fountain mounting block 12 serve to bias the rod 17 in the right-hand direction as viewed in FIG. 2. In this manner the fountain support member 16- is normally biased in the direction of its mounting block 12. A pair of knurled head screws 21, vertically spaced on the block 12, are threaded through openings in the block 12 and have their forward ends 22 in abutting relationship with respect to the fountain support member 16. Thus it can be seen that by rotation of the knurled head screws 21 the spacing or position of the fountain support member 16 relative to the mounting block 12 may be adjusted.

The fountain support member 16, in its forward facing portion, is formed with a vertical slot 23 within which is positioned a fountain insert 24. The fountain insert 24 is retained in the slot 23 by suitable threaded screws extending into the back thereof through the support member 16. As can be seen when viewing FIGS. 2 and 4, the fountain insert extends substantially the full height of the support member 16. The exposed face of the fountain insert 24 is provided with a cut-out portion 25 which, in effect, removes one corner of the insert and this cut-out portion 25 extends the full height of the insert. This cut-out portion serves as a locating and supporting structure for the ink distributing conduit or fountain 26.

The fountain insert 24 has a second semi-circular recess 27 formed in the forward or exposed face thereof which extends throughout the full height of the insert. This recess 27 serves as the guiding and supporting surface for a rotatable doctor-roll 28. While the recess 27 is shown as being semicircular in configuration, it should be pointed out that it may have a V or U shape since it only serves to retain the rotating doctor-roll 28 in vertical alignment and in rolling contact with the roller 33.

As best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the ink distributing conduit 26 is generally vertically mounted and has a branch conduit 29 connected thereto adjacent the upper end thereof, with the conduit 29 being provided with a threaded fitting 30.

The branch conduit 29 extends through a horizontal cut-out slot 31 formed in the extending side portion of the foundtain support member 16. The ink distributing conduit 26 is closed at both its upper and lower ends and is provided with a plurality of openings 32 (FIG. 4) or a vertical slot 32a (FIG. formed through the wall thereof. The openings 32 or slot 32a, in actual practice, are positioned about the radius of the ink distributing conduit at an angle of 120 with respect to the axis of the branch conduit 29. All of the openings 32 or slot 32a describe a substantially vertical line, with the openings 32 and slot 3211 being directed at the outside surface of an inking roll 33. The inking roll 33, in its usual form, is a metal cylinder having a rubber or other ink receptive surface covering 34. Drive means for the inking roll 33 is positioned beneath the base and serves to drive the shaft 35 in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2. The actual drive connection to the shaft 35 is not shown, it being understood that the roll 33 is driven in synchronism with the off-set printing roll.

A spur gear 36 is coaxially fixed to the upper end of the inking roll 33. A spur gear 37 is fixed to the upper end of the rotatable doctor-roll 28 and is in mesh with the spur gear 36. The doctor-roll and spur gear 37 are vertically supported by a cover plate 38 which covers the upper end of the fountain support member 16 and the doctorroll 28 and its spur gear 37 are prevented from moving vertically upward by an overlying finger 39 mounted to the upper surface of the cover plate 38.

Thus it can be seen that the ink from the distributing conduit 26 will be applied to the surface of the roll 33, with the thickness thereof being determined by the positioning of the doctor-roll 28 relative to the roll. The doctor-roll 28 is maintained in its adjusted position by reason of the fact that it is supported in the recess 27 throughout its full length.

A scrapper blade 40 having an outer configuration generally corresponding to the upper configuration of the roll 33 serves to prevent build-up of ink at the upper end of the roll 33. The blade 40 is mounted to a mounting block 41 which in turn is fixed to the side of the fountain mounting block 12. A similar scraper 42 is positioned adjacent the lower end of the roll 33 and has an outer configuration closely paralleling the circumferential configuration of roll 33 at the lower end. The blade 42 is also fixed to a mounting block 43 which in turn is connected to the side of the fountain mounting block 12.

As can best be seen in FIG. 3, the lower end of the roll 33 is formed with a relatively sharp, annular, depending portion 44 which cooperates with the scraper blade 42 to effectively remove excess ink and permit the ink to fall into a collecting reservoir 45. The reservoir 45 is formed with an upstanding cylindrical rib 46 which closely surrounds the shaft 35 and has its upper edge terminating at a point inwardly of the annular portion 44 of the roll 33. The reservoir 45 also has a lower sump portion 47 into which the excess ink, removed from the roll 33, will be drained by gravity. As the ink is used, additional ink may be added to the sump portion 47 by lifting the cover 48. Thus the sump 47 serves as the ink supply for the apparatus. The ink is drawn from the sump through a conduit 49 by a pump 50.

The outlet of pump 50 is connected by conduit 51 to the threaded fitting 30 on the conduit 29, thus providing a continuous, recirculating supply of ink for the ink distributing tube or fountain 26.

With the apparatus disclosed, it can be seen that a continuous supply of ink will be fed to the distributing conduit or fountain and the ink will be discharged through the slot 32a or plurality of outlets 32 so as to impinge on the outer surface of the roll 33 along the length of the roll 33, thus ensuring that an adequate supply of ink will be present along the full length of the roll. The rotation of the roll surface past the point of ink impingement carries that portion of the roll into doctoring relationship with respect to the doctor-roll 28. The thickness of the ink film thus provided on the roll 33 will then be determined by the spacing of the doctor-roll 28 relative to the roll 34, with its position being adjustable by turning the screws 21.

We claim:

1. A single roll ink fountain comprising, a rotatably journaled ink roll positioned with its axis substantially vertical, means to rotate said ink roll, a vertically positioned, rotatable doctor roll in contiguous peripheral relation to said ink roll, means to rotate said doctor roll, vertical ink distributing means positioned adjacent said ink roll in a non-contacting position with respect to said ink roll comprising a vertical conduit coextensive with full length of said ink roll and having formed in the wall of said conduit at least one opening in facing relationship with the periphery of said ink roll for simultaneously applying ink in a pattern which encompasses the full length of said ink roll, mounting means extending substantially the full height of said ink roll for supporting said doctor roll and said vertical conduit comprising an elongated member having its major axis vertical and a semi-circular groove extending the full height of said member in its front face, said groove being of a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of said rotatable doctor roll, said doctor roll being rotatably supported throughout substantially its full length by said groove, ink supply means, and means connected to said distributing means for feeding ink under pressure thereto.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a fixed, vertically extending, block positioned parallel to the axis of said ink roll, said block supporting said elongated member, and means mounting said block for adjustable movement toward and away from the axis of said ink roll whereby the relative spacing of the doctor roll and ink roll may be varied to vary the thickness of the ink film formed on said ink roll.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means to rotate said doctor roll comprises first gear means mounted to the axis of said ink roll and second gear means connected to said doctor roll and meshing with said first gear means, whereby rotation of said ink roll serves to rotate said doctor roll.

4. In a vertical single roll ink fountain having a rotatably journaled ink roll positioned with its axis substantially vertical, means to rotate said ink roll, a vertically positioned, rotatable doctor roll in contiguous peripheral relation to said ink roll, means to rotate said doctor roll,

vertical ink distributing means positioned adjacent said ink roll in a non-contacting position with said ink roll for simultaneously applying ink in a pattern which encompasses the full length of said ink roll, ink supply means, and means connected to said distributing means for feeding ink under pressure thereto, the improvement comprising mounting means extending substantially the full height of said ink roll for supporting said doctor roll and said ink distributing means comprising an elongated member having its major axis vertical and a semicircular groove extending the full height of said member in its front face, said groove being of a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of said rotatable doctor roll, said doctor roll being rotatably supported throughout substantially its full length by said groove.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Noon 101-366 WILLIAM B. PENN, Primary Examiner E. M. COVEN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

